A Day in the Life of Bryan

So my life has settled into a bit of a routine, not anything I want to hold on to (I mean the routine, not my life), and I thought that it may, or may not, be interesting for you to hear about this.

These days I wake at about 4:30. Although during the winter months (May-August) it's usually past five, I awake when it is light enough to see the road so that I can go for a run. My runs aren't as intense, varied, or long as they used to be; I run between 35-45 minutes, and there are exactly four different paths that I have been using. Back home, I didn't run first thing in the morning very often, but here it makes a lot of sense for a variety of reasons: it gets hot in the middle of the day this close to the equator, I have plenty of other things to do the rest of the day, and most importantly-there are less hecklers and gawkers early in the morning (although this doesn't hold true these days when everyone is in the fields taking advantage of the breif rainy season). I found that this is an excellent way to start my day, and I always feel slugish for the rest of the day if I can't summon the inspiration to get out the door and run at the crack of dawn.

Here in the village we don't have any fancy technology to provide running and hot water. Instead, we take cold bucket baths. By now, I am used to this, but during the cold season, especially July and August, this was a fridged esperience. I always took advantage of my elevated body temperature after running by quickly jumping into the bafa (room where bucket bathing takes place). Then, I scurry back into the house and quickly throw on my school clothes-scuffed Timberland boots, khaki pants, and a short sleeve plaid shirt (typical)- to quell the shivering. In the meantime, one of the boys is cooking breakfast. I study Chichewa, correct homework, or just listen to the radio while I wait for the food. The three of us then eat a simple breakfast-usually maize flour porrige (phala). I make the short walk to school by 7, in plenty of time for the first period at 7:30.

I will be honest. School has become a bit monotonous as of late. However, the monotony really only gets to me on days when I'm not teaching very much, just sitting in the office planning lessons with heavy eyelids. So I try to spend a lot of time in the classroom when there are free periods available. This way the day goes by faster and I'm doing what I'm here to do-teach. I certainly don't dislike my day job (although I don't see myself making a career of teaching in high schools); I'm proud of what I am doing here, and there are plenty of moments that make it all worth while.

For the first half of last school year, classes ended at 3:30. In the middle of these never-ending school days was a 90-minute lunch break. 90 minutes was necessary for preparing, cooking, and eating lunch. The problem was that most people didn't eat lunch either because they lived too far away or they didn't have any food to cook. Also, many students did go home for lunch, and they just wouldn't return for afternoon classes. In the middle of the year, I started a campaign to do away with this lunch break altogether because it mostly entailed about 25% of the people actually eating lunch while the other 75% just waited around the school or wandered home. It was easy to convince the staff for us to make the change. Most of them already felt this way, and none of the other schools in the area have a true lunch break. I brought it up during one of the staff meetings, we quickly changed the timetable, and nowadays (thank God) the last period ends at 2:15. At this time, I tie up any loose ends at the office-manning the library, answering students questions, doing any urgent lesson planning or homework correcting, or supervising any estracirricular activities. I’m usually out the door well before 3.

As most of you know, I like to eat. I’m usually starving by the time I get home, but it doesn’t make much sense for us to have a big lunch this late in the day since, in this culture, a big dinner is mandatory. So we just whip together something quick-roasted maize or peanuts-and then get on with the rest of the afternoon.

On weekdays, the late afternoon is easily my favorite time of day because I get to do whatever the heck I want. These past two months, I have been going to the field a lot, taking care of the crops with the boys. Other typical afternoon activities include: reading (for fun), grading homework, lesson planning, chopping firewood, napping, drinking homemade wine and chatting with locals, or washing clothes.

The range in sunset times is much less dramatic than it is in Minnesota since we are so close to the equator. In the winter months, it gets dark a little before six, and these days it’s about 6:30. Since I was a little kid I always have enjoyed staying up late. But here, in the village without any electricity, my body shuts down pretty fast. As with breakfast, we usually eat together around the table. Dinner usually consists of a big carbohydrate dish and something else on the side. About 80% of the time the carb is nsima (the staple of most East African diets which is make from maize flour, tastes very simple and bland, and looks similar to mashed potatoes (but certainly doesn’t taste like them)). The other 20% of the time the main dish is either rice or spaghetti (the latter is the boys’ new favorite food, which they had never eaten before I entered their lives). Our common side dishes, from most common on down, are as follows: some type of boiled greens, beans, soupy fish, soupy meat, and a popular dish make from processed soya that is supposed to (and kind of does) taste like meat. This food certainly isn’t as good and varied as the stuff in the States, but I have grown to like it. We like to listen to the radio while eating dinner in order to catch the evening news. We chat for a little while afterwards, and I read a few pages of whatever book I am reading at the time. I’m in bed pretty fast, usually between 8 and 9. It’s nice to have a natural rythym of going to sleep and waking with the sun. However, I couldn’t sleep like this in America-with all the electricity around.

Well, I’m not sure if that was worth your time to read or not, but that’s my life in Peace Corps. It will be intense to come back to the rat-race we call America about a year from now. Tomorrow, I’m headed to the lake to relax with some friends over Christmas. Happy Holidays everyone. Be safe-Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do (that should give you plenty of leeway).

"If America taught me anything, it's that quitting is right up there with pissing in the Girl Scouts' lemonade jar." Khaled Hosseini